Westervelt massacre

rdf:langString Westervelt massacre

rdf:langString A map of Kentucke County, Virginia made in 1784 by John Filson. The Westervelt massacre occurred approximately 12 miles southeast of Low Dutch Station.

rdf:langString Floyd's Fork and Broad Run, Kentucky

rdf:langString Westervelt massacre

rdf:langString The Westervelt massacre, also known as the Westerfield massacre, was an attack by Native Americans on a caravan of Dutch American settlers on June 27, 1780 near the frontier. Occurring amidst the backdrop of the Revolutionary War, the attack remains one of the largest massacres in the history of Kentucky. The settlers, who were escaping Bird's invasion of Kentucky, left the colonial settlement of Low Dutch Station to relocate to Harrodsburg; the route they took went southwards via what would become the Old Shepherdsville Road to the modern-day Shepherdsville, before turning east-southeast down the trails along the Salt River, taking them through present-day Spencer County towards Harrodsburg. Harrodburg was fortified, making it an attractive location to escape Captain Bird's invading army from the north. However, the settlers never made it to Sheperdsville; British-allied Native Americans were active in the area immediately east of Low Dutch Station (where the Mall St. Matthews now stands). The settlers, who were travelling in a caravan, were ambushed and massacred in a surprise attack by the British-allied Native Americans at night after they had travelled 12 miles on June 26. Debate exists over historians concerning the exact location of the massacre, though historical consensus places the event at Floyd's Fork and Broad Run, in modern-day Kentucky. The caravan was formed by Dutch-American settler Jacobus Westervelt and consisted of forty-one settlers from ten different families; ten of the seventeen settlers killed were members of the Westervelt family. Men, women and children alike were killed in the massacre. After committing the massacre, the Native Americans present scalped their victims and gave them to the British, who paid them a bounty of £5 for each scalp. The massacre led to wave of fear among settlers in the region, and drove many of them to join Patriot militia under the command of George Rogers Clark. In September 2019, a historical marker was erected at the site of the massacre, after a consensus had been reached among Kentucky historians as to the definitive location of the event, which was determined to be near Brooks, Bullitt County.